Mobile dental clinic helps life in High River get back to normal

38-foot Winnebago serves as mobile dental clinic

Dentists from High River are working out of a mobile clinic to serve displaced residents. (Alana Baker/CBC)

Six dentists from High River have found a way to reach their patients after the flood forced the closure of their clinics.

They've set up shop in a retrofitted 38-foot Winnebago on loan from the Alberta Dental Association.

While many people try to avoid the dentist at all costs, a visit to the clinic is a welcome piece of normalcy for many in flood-ravaged High River.

"They're like, 'This is the first time I've just been able to relax in weeks,'" said Michelle McIntosh, a dentist with the High River Dental Clinic. "I'm like, 'Well, I'm so glad you think of it as relaxing, that's good!'"

The mobile clinic has all the same equipment as a regular dentist's office, including room to work on three patients at once.

For many patients, it's being able to see a familiar face that helps the most with getting through the tough times.

"There are people in High River who will not have a normal situation perhaps for the rest of their life," said Cathy Reid, a patient at the mobile clinic. "So some sense of normalcy, I think, is very important."

While unconventional, the mobile clinic is also helping to bring people together — and not just because they're all sharing a 38-foot space.

"It's almost a sense of more closeness with our patients," said Erin Babic, an administrator for High River Dental.